Atlas Obscura Itineraries

Gastro Obscura’s 10 Essential Places to Eat and Drink in Rome

For decades, Roman gastro-itineraries revolved around the same old set pieces: cappuccinos at Sant’ Eustachio Il Caffè, fried artichokes at Piperno, Berniniesque swirls of gelato at Giolitti on Piazza Navona. They’re all still there, frozen in some eternal Grand Tour glow (and besieged by tourists). But since the start of the 21st century, a new generation of passionate chefs, bakers, and gelato-makers have been updating classics with stellar ingredients and sharp attention to detail. Luckily, cucina romana never lost its brash gritty character—worlds away from the baroque, Arab-inspired cuisine of Sicily or the opulent butter-and-egg-fueled cooking of Piedmont and Emilia-Romagna. In part, Rome’s distinct food identity stems from the fact that, until it became the capital of unified Italy in 1870, the city was split into two worlds: the Vatican with its wealth, formality, and ceremonious banquets; and the popolino (common folk), who merely subsisted while the papal state feasted. The Eternal City’s cuisine has also been influenced by the rustic pastoral traditions of the surrounding regions like Abruzzo and Lazio. True to these vernacular roots, both old and new osterie and trattorie in Rome stubbornly cling to a roster of populist cucina povera classics. Invariably, there is the triumvirate of guanciale-based pasta sauces—carbonara, amatriciana, and gricia—plus cacio e pepe (senza guanciale). And certainly quinto quarto (that’s offal), ranging from tripe in tomato sauce to far more graphic innards. Winter means puntarelle, spring brings favas and artichokes. Romans eat gnocchi on Thursday, salt cod on Friday—and abbacchio (roast baby lamb) around Easter. On such certainties does Roman dining rest. But with some 30 million visitors expected to descend on the Eternal City for its Jubilee Year, how to uncover true gems amid the glut of checkered-tablecloth tourist traps? Read on! From a porchetta sandwich den lost in a time warp near Termini Station to the creamiest pistachio gelato in the district of Prati, from authentic Roman–Jewish cuisine in Trastevere to a perfect new pizzeria by Circo Massimo, we’ve curated a list of places that show off cucina romana at its eternal best.